Jul 16, 2026

Greetings,

The summer edition of our Parish Festival is in just two short weeks! Tickets are on sale now for the Ladies Night Out on July 30 and our Annual Pig Roast and Bourbon Tasting on July 31. Make sure you get your tickets and reserve your place at these events. See page 9 for how to purchase.

Saturday, August 1, is our Parish Family Festival, with a post-Mass procession, food, games, community, and ending with a candle-lit praying of Compline in the Church. Thank you to everybody who is helping us to celebrate the 98th year of our founding as a parish. Thanks be to God for the many blessings that He bestows on us through this parish, to Monsignor and the founding parishioners, and for all those who have maintained this parish for us over the past almost century. Thanks to all of you who make this such a great place at which to be pastor.

IN OTHER NEWS:

DIOCESAN CAPITOL CAMPAIGN: The Diocese is engaging its parishes in a Diocesan Capitol Campaign called, “Called to Flourish: Our Church for the Future.” This past weekend, you may have heard me mention that we were embarking on this project. You may wonder why some of the parishes around us are not beginning it at the moment. The campaign is being rolled out in four waves and we are part of the first wave.

We are bringing to an end a quiet phase soon and are putting together a team of volunteers to assist in this project. You may be contacted by one of these volunteers who will ask you to participate in some way. They are not paid, anonymous callers from a phone bank, but your fellow parishioners. Please give them a kind listening and, if you can, discern how you might participate in this campaign.

More information will be coming out soon about how this project will benefit us and this parish. As trying as a campaign can be, it will benefit us and the future members of this parish to a great extent. Thank you for your patience and enthusiasm.

A GOOD PROBLEM TO HAVE: Miss Mallory Palagyi had our kick off events for our High School and Middle School Youth Groups and had a far better turnout than we were expecting! She could use a few more volunteers/chaperones. If it is possible, she is looking for some young adult/non-parent volunteers who would enjoy the games and activities. Email Mallory at palagyim@stsebastian.org or leave a message for her at the parish office.

SERVERS: Thank you to our servers and all of the people who help coordinate and train them. We are finally back up to the numbers that we had prior to COVID. There are 71 servers in our corps though not all are available for all Masses. One of the biggest compliments that I receive from visiting clergy and others is how great our servers are. They do more than just help the Mass move along in a stately fashion, they also are great ambassadors for visitors.

AWAY: I will be away again this weekend for about a week and a half. This is my annual trek to upstate New York to visit my sister. Fr. Joseph will be holding down the fort while I am gone. He seems to be able to stand up under the strain!

God bless,

Fr. Valencheck